These families kept something that could track their inventories, so they'd detect if anyone stole something or made a non-sanctioned deal with any customer or smuggler like how it was happening now.
Instead of storing these in their inventories, they all had portable exterior storage devices. So, they needed someone to be present to receive them, and that was the lady nymph.
Hye kept tracking her activity, got to know about the deals she did so far. In the end, she took roughly one week to go around the entire place, visiting lots of sectors, and managed to collect a grand harvest for Hye.
The latter knew if he waited one month, he'd receive much more of these crystals, ones at higher grades on top of that. But he wanted to feel more secure and decided to arm up Lucas and his elites before doing anything else.
He didn't know any intel about what was going on, but he could already sniff gunpowder in the air.
"For any tight system, there are many who'll exploit loopholes in it," Hye sat in front of the many storage devices that the green nymph lady brought over to him.
Seeing these devices and much more inside his inventory was proof of how any rules would fail in front of the intelligence of people living in the universe. But he didn't care. He got what he wanted and didn't care how these merchants delivered him these crystals, or how they got them in the first place.
"Lucas, step forward and empty each storage device of their crystals and use them," he waved his arm, watching how his most trusted aides, the one who kept his company for a long time, worked over these devices and took crystals out of them.
"My king, I can't step beyond level one," after replenishing his stats and bypassing level zero and one, Lucas suddenly stopped.
Each device contained tens of millions of crystals, and there were hundreds of these devices already. Hye knew he might be the owner of the greatest number of crystals in this world right now. But to him, this wasn't even enough!
"What do you mean?" Hye just let himself enter level one and didn't try to push his level beyond that.
"There is some sort of a test required to get past that level," Lucas shrugged, "I can't raise my power beyond that."
"Let me see," Hye grabbed one storage device and started emptying the contents of the crystals. Each device was different in shape, with many looking like sci-fi helmets or small pieces of armour.
To unlock it, he simply would touch a small red button and all the crystals inside would be taken out. He'd gain total control over these devices if he wanted, store anything inside.
Hye didn't pay to obtain these devices, despite knowing they must be quite pricey and hard to obtain. He was sure such devices would be a hot commodity in the black market, something that wouldn't be easily sold in this world or at any other marketplace.
The inside of each device varied, but in general there were lots of slots there. They worked like the inventory did, with the ability to add up to ten thousand similar items together at one slot. This was a sign on how these devices were lower in efficacy compared to the standard inventory.
But they could be stored inside anyone's inventory, or carried around just like how the merchants did. As Hye took out crystals, he started to madly absorb them. And his stats increased at a fast pace.
The sparks that came out from his fingers started to grow and come from his four limbs. It was an amazing feeling when he hit the ceiling of level one, paying almost one billion crystals to do so.
"Damn! The number of crystals needed is increasing by each level…" he now realised how this looked like a more desperate bottomless pit.
But that wasn't his current issue right now. Whenever he hit the ceiling of level one, he saw a message that made him feel more powerless.
[Attention! You already hit the ceiling of level one! To proceed, you have to take part in one outer battlefield expedition and succeed in winning it! Be aware, your performance in that expedition will determine your final rewards. Good luck!]
"F*ck you!" he knew he wouldn't be able to raise the power of his army of warriors beyond level one. And that was quite frustrating.
He thought he could elevate his men's levels as long as he secured enough stat crystals. But it seemed this wasn't the case. Even if he got enough crystals, he wouldn't be able to do much with it!
When he calmed himself, he realised how this made logic. If anyone could level up himself and his closed circle of fighters, then many would have already hit the ceiling power of this universe. Yet he didn't hear of anything like that happening.
The highest level of power he heard before was at level four and five. He never heard of a single one reaching level six.
As the number of crystals needed increased madly from one level to another, he also expected the level of difficulty of each upgrade test increased as well.
This made sense as well. Like this, the system and those behind it would keep everyone in the universe training and growing their powers all the time.
Everything made perfect sense to him, but he still couldn't help but be frustrated over all this. He knew his power at the upcoming war was greatly diminished this way, and he wouldn't have the same freedom to fight as he thought before.
"If I can't make it using quality, then I'll make it up using quantity," he thought back to his Crystal Heart, and decided to not care about any expenses or bone consumption for the time being.
"My king…" Hye got distracted and went silent for an entire hour. He was jolted awake when Lucas spoke, "is everything alright?"
The source of this c𝐨ntent is fre𝒆w(e)bn(o)vel